


Impostor Syndrome

by Guest2357



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-20
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:13:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28182213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Guest2357/pseuds/Guest2357
Summary: Harry helps Hermione understand just how valuable she is.
Kudos: 1





	Impostor Syndrome

Hermione sat in the corner of the Gryffindor common room, feeling detached from her surroundings. The war was finally over, but part of her felt like she could never really move on. She watched as the fire burned, staring into the flames as if they held the answers. She didn't even notice when the door opened.

"Hermione", A voice called. "Hermione, you need to eat. You've been sitting there for eight hours."

She jumped. "Sorry, I must've zoned out. I'll be down soon."

She waited. It seemed like the person had gone away. "Why do they hang around me? I'm not funny, or beautiful, or witty like the other girls, I'm not even that smart." She whispered under her breath.

A hand touching her shoulder broke her out of her trance. She turned to see Harry looking at her with a worried expression on his face.

"Hermione, what are you talking about? Of course you're funny, and smart, and beautiful, and witty."

"No, I'm really not." She exclaimed. "I'm-"

He cut her off. "Hermione, have you ever heard of imposter syndrome?"

She scoffed. "Of course I have. Impostor syndrome (also known as impostor phenomenon, impostorism, fraud syndrome or the impostor experience) is a psychological pattern in which an individual doubts their skills, talents or accomplishments and has a persistent internalized fear of being exposed as a "fraud". Despite external evidence of their competence, those experiencing this phenomenon remain convinced that they are frauds, and do not deserve all they have achieved. Individuals with impostorism incorrectly attribute their success to luck, or interpret it as a result of deceiving others into thinking they are more intelligent than they perceive themselves to be. While early research focused on the prevalence among high-achieving women, impostor syndrome has been recognized to affect both men and women equally."

Harry looked at her for a moment, and then sighed. "Hermione, you do realize that that perfectly describes you, right? You are basically the only reason we're alive at this point. If not for you, we would have died or gotten expelled our first year, not to mention the years after that!"

Hermione shook her head. "You would have been fine without me."

Harry looked at her with disbelief. "No, we really wouldn't have. Even just in first year, I would have died at the first quidditch match, not to mention in the third floor corridor. How do you not see that? You are insanely talented, and I don't understand how you don't see it!" Hermione just stared at him with disbelief. She didn't understand how he thought that she had any of those qualities. Harry just kept looking at her with a strange look on his face. He eventually sighed, and stood up. "I know there isn't anything I can say right now that will change your mind, but we will be talking about this later. Come on, lets go get dinner. He tugged on her arm, getting her to follow him. She still didn't understand just how important she was, but she would. He would make sure of it.


End file.
